[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Moon Knight Episode 3, “The Friendly Type.”]
Drawing even further inspiration from treasure-hunting flicks like Indiana Jones, this week’s Moon Knight revolves around a search for an ancient sarcophagus… or rather, the map that’s drawn inside it. We also delve a little deeper into Marc (Oscar Isaac) and Layla (May Calamawy)’s relationship, and we get a glimpse of how things work for the Egyptian gods in the present day. Here’s how it happens.
In a flashback, we get a bit of backstory on Layla. She steals stolen artifacts to return them to their rightful owners, and her family history is tragic. Her father was an archaeologist and he used to take her to dig sites, but apparently, something happened in the desert that killed him. (Seems likely we’ll learn more about that later.)
In the present, Arthur (Ethan Hawke) and his followers find Ammit’s tomb, but Marc and Layla are still searching for a way to get there. Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) has a way to stall — he summons a meeting of the gods and their avatars to, hopefully, prove that Arthur is up to no good. The gods, on the other hand, don’t seem inclined to believe Khonshu, and his whole story is cast in doubt as they learn that Steven is mentally unwell. They find no evidence of wrongdoing on Arthur’s part and disband the meeting. But another god’s avatar helps him, telling him that if they can find Senfu’s sarcophagus, they’ll find instructions on how to get to the tomb.
(Credit: Disney+/©Marvel Studios)
The pursuit of the sarcophagus takes most of the rest of the episode and leads Marc and Layla to an old friend of hers. (It also reveals Layla has ties to Madripoor, and maybe also the Power Broker). The guy, whose name is Anton (Gaspard Ulliel), is incredibly wealthy and not a fan of Marc after Layla reveals she’s married to him, but he does allow them to see the sarcophagus. Layla asks Marc to let Steven out so he can analyze the runes, which are coded. Marc says there’s no time, but Steven is able to help him from reflections and says that he has to match up the stars on the cartonnage from the sarcophagus with real constellations to make a star chart that will guide them to the tomb.
Marc is in the process of doing this when Anton’s security bursts in and asks him what he’s doing. This results in an armed standoff and then an interruption: Arthur is there. He offers Anton the scarab and tells him that the lore surrounding his collection is real, then destroys the sarcophagus to prove it. Marc summons the suit and battles with Anton’s security, while Layla goes back into the tomb and salvages (and steals) what remains of the stars.
They get a ride out of there and have an emotional conversation about whether they ever really knew each other, then they head into the desert and try to follow the map of the stars. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they try and despite Marc allowing Steven to take control, it won’t work. Because the map was made thousands of years ago, the constellations they’re looking at no longer exist and the map could lead them miles away from where they should be. Khonshu says he can turn back the sky to the day the map was made, but it will cost them. It’ll lead to his imprisonment by the gods, so he will no longer be able to help them. He’ll need them to break him out.
Left with no choice, they go through with it. The god is imprisoned in a statue in the temple, and Steven passes out. Arthur goes to the temple and taunts Khonshu, saying that the greatest sin he carries is that he enjoyed doling out pain on Khonshu’s behalf. He says that the god broke him, but he healed — and when he “does what [Khonshu] could not,” he wants Khonshu to know that it was his torment that forced him to act, and he owes his victory to him.
Moon Knight, Wednesdays, Disney+
